‘Whirlwind’ of activity coming to east Modesto’s popular Century Center complex
When the Dole family bought east Modesto’s venerable Century Center in January 2020, they promised they were in it for the long haul.
Now, 18 months and one pandemic later, they’re proving just that and investing in their property and its future with renovations and new developments.
The Dole family’s Vintage Properties bought the Oakdale Road shopping center for $21.5 million in early 2020. Then the pandemic hit a couple months later.
Before the pandemic, the center was at about 55% occupancy. Now, once a couple outstanding leases are signed, Vintage Properties partner Brian Dole said they’re on track to be 75% to 80% full.
The once-bustling east Modesto shopping center has struggled to attract tenants and crowds since losing its major anchors about a decade ago — first the Gottschalks department store went out of business in 2009 and then Raley’s supermarket left for a new location in Village One in 2012.
After a rough year, Dole — who manages the center along with his father and Vintage Properties owner Marvin Dole — is excited about a number of new developments at the center, and hopeful about its long-term future.
“It was a very, very difficult year and our tenants were struggling — especially our restaurants,” Brian Dole said. “But most of them have seemed to pick back up and everyone seems to be doing pretty well now. The leasing activity started picking up three or four months ago and it’s been a whirlwind of activity.”
New spas, salons, coffee, more coming to shopping center
Those developments include filling up all of the back row of suites on the east end of the center, between the existing Planet Fitness and the newly reopened Torii Japanese Restaurant.
New and open in that section of the complex are Byakko Private Security Services, Bee Skinny Inc. and NV Nail Spa. Opening around the start of September in the same row of suites will be the nonprofit group Farmworkers Institute for Education and Leadership Development (which will offer tutoring for the children of farm workers) and the new Blend Barbershop.
And Brian Dole is investing in himself and the property as well, partnering with his wife to open Luxx Labs Salon Suites in the same row. Unlike traditional open floor plan hair salons, the new suites concept will create 32 individual and enclosed private rooms that can be rented by stylists. The salon will take up two existing spaces totaling about 6,200 square feet in the center’s back row next to Torii.
Construction began on the project about six weeks ago with an estimated mid-November to early December opening planned.
But the salon isn’t the only project Dole is investing in at the center. He and another partner are also opening an independent drive-thru coffee kiosk in the currently vacant parking lot area between the Chase bank and Ridgway’s restaurant. The coffee stand will have two drive-thru windows and a walk-up window, plus outdoor seating.
Like Luxx Labs, Dole is striking out with a new concept for the business, which will be called Snowbean Coffee. The kiosk will sell traditional coffee and espresso drinks, blended drinks and shaved ice, giving it an all-seasons menu for summer and winter enjoyment.
Dole had initially started negotiating with an existing coffee brand to come to the center, but then decided to strike out with his own idea along with a friend. If the concept is a hit, he hopes to expand it to locations in his family’s other commercial properties, including in the Mar-Vale’s shopping center in Escalon and alongside the Round Table Pizza in Turlock.
Work on the 420-square-foot kiosk is expected to begin in December or January, with eyes on a spring 2022 opening.
Contemporary facade upgrades planned for Century Center
But before that, shoppers will see the long-awaited facade upgrade to the center. The Doles had originally hoped to start work last summer. But now construction to modernize the look of the center should start in November or December of this year.
Expect to see cleaner lines and a more contemporary feel to the complex, which first opened in 1979. Work will begin on the property’s Oakdale Road-facing corner with the Pizza Hut.
Dole is also in talks with two separate medical businesses about taking over the long-vacant Blockbuster space and part of the former Gottschalks, respectively. Two other medical tenants, Satellite Dialysis and Golden Valley Health Centers, have already opened in the center.
If those deals go through, the remaining vacant spaces in Century Center will include the other half of the former Gottschalks site and the Raley’s anchor space, as well as a few smaller suites scattered through the complex.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
